the world is brighter than the sun now that you're here
by theyellowumbrella
Summary: Stacie and Aubrey preparing for the Georgia pride parade year after year.


**A/N:** My computer is unfortunately broken, which means that posting either on my phone or iPad are my only options. Unsure about when the new chapter of VIMH will be posted due to this. Sorry!

* * *

 **2013**

"Aubrey, pleaaase," Stacie begs, groaning at the unconvinced look on her girlfriend's face. "Come on! It'll be fun."

"Look, Stacie, I just don't understand the point in parading my sexuality around so the whole of Georgia can know. _I_ know, _you_ know, all my friends and unfortunately my family know — why does the rest of the state need to?"

"That's not what it's about, though," Stacie says with an eye roll. "It's about being proud of yourself, and having a safe space where you can just exist, proudly and unashamedly."

"I'm not ashamed of you," Aubrey says, narrowing her eyes. "I'm not ashamed to be with you."

"I know you aren't, Bree, and I'm not ashamed of us either."

"So then what's the need to walk around town yelling it from the rooftops?" Aubrey frowns. "Our relationship is exactly that — _ours_. Not some random gay man that you meet for the first time in the middle of the street, become "best friends" with, tell him our whole story of coming out and how we got here and never speak to him again."

"I want to go because I want everyone to know that I love you. Because I'm proud of you, and how far you've come, and of us, and how far we've come. I'm not asking you to wave around the gay flag, or dye your hair rainbow. All I'm asking is that you come with me, and march in that parade, and be proud."

Aubrey sighs. "You're not going to give up on this, are you?"

"I'm going to that parade. Of course I want you with me, but I will go without you if I have to." A beat. "Please come."

"Fine. But no dressing up."

"Of course!" Stacie squeals, throwing her arms around Aubrey's neck and launching herself into her arms. "I love you so much."

 _ **stacie is at pride :)** staacccieeex_

 _OMG i just convinced aubrey to come with me to pride today c; i cant believe she said yes c; c; c;_

0 retweets. 7 likes.

/

 **2014**

"Aubrey, would you hold still," Stacie complains as her girlfriend squirms, flinching at the wet feeling on her face. "Seriously! It's smudging!"

"Hurry up then," Aubrey says, wincing at the feeling of the paint brush against her cheek. "What are you even drawing?"

"Two rainbows with clouds at the end and little smiley faces. One for each cheek," Stacie says with a grin.

"Are you kidding me? Stacie," Aubrey whines, but Stacie can see the smile she's holding back.

"We'll be matching!" Stacie exclaims in glee. "I mean, you'll have to paint mine on so they don't look stupid, but think about how cute it'll be."

"Why are you making me do this?" Aubrey pouts.

"Because even though you're already the cutest girl at pride, this will make you even cuter." Stacie grins. She leans in for what Aubrey hopes is a kiss but instead just blows air on the wet paint sitting uncomfortably on Aubrey's skin.

"I love you," Aubrey says begrudgingly. "But I'm not happy about it."

"Of course not, babe." She hums happily, adding the finishing smiley face to the second rainbow. "Now, tell me your stance on pigtails."

"Stacie!

 _ **stace #loveislove** staacccieeex_

 _today i convinced my extremely reluctant girlfriend to come with me to pride dressed like this! get ready georgia_ [1 Attachment]

306 retweets. 792 likes

/

 **2015**

"Babe, are you ready?" Aubrey asks, peeking her head through the bedroom door.

"No, not yet," Stacie says. "Now, go away! It's a surprise!"

"What are you even doing, anyway?" Aubrey asks, pressing her back up against the wall outside of their bedroom. She looks down at her nails, which have been painted all of the colours of the rainbow in preparation for the parade. "You've never taken this long to get ready."

"I'm changing things up a bit, alright?" Stacie says.

She waits there for a few minutes until Stacie finally appears outside. Her lips are striked with pink, yellow and blue lipstick — the colours of the pansexual flag — and her eyelids are the same. There's a small pansexual flag painted on her cheek, along with different coloured rays coming off of the flag.

Aubrey swears she's never seen anyone look so beautiful.

"How do I look?" Stacie asks, grinning happily at Aubrey. "Is it okay? I thought I'd go a little bit dramatic this year. I mean, we can get married now!" She freezes. "I mean, not like, now. Not that we're getting married or anything. I just meant —"

"— I know what you meant," Aubrey says. She kisses Stacie briefly, smiling against her lips. "You look amazing. I just … you're the most beautiful girl I've ever met. I'm just — I can't believe I have you. I'm so lucky."

"I love you so much," Stacie says. She laughs, pressing her mouth against Aubrey's.

 _ **s.c. #panpride** yagirlstacie_

 _is my look this year too extra? probably. but my girlfriend thinks i'm the "most beautiful girl she's ever met" sooo_ [1 Attachment].

9 retweets. 361 likes.

/

 **2016**

"I can't believe this happened," Stacie cries. She buries her face into Aubrey's neck, accepting the hug that her girlfriend wraps her in as soon as she feels it. "Oh, my God. We were so stupid. We were so fucking stupid, Aubrey. We thought that … we thought we were safe. We thought that things had changed. What, now that we can get married legally we're going to be okay? Things are going to change? Fuck, no. People are still the same homophobic, stupid assholes that they always were. We were fucking stupid."

"Stacie," Aubrey says. She kisses the side of Stacie's head, clearing the dampened hair from her girlfriend's face. "Oh, Stacie. Come here. I know that … that what happened last night in Orlando was … God, words can't even describe the tragedy. But it doesn't mean that things aren't different. They are. The fact that we can even get married speaks volumes."

"But we live in Georgia, Aubrey. Georgia. I mean, if something that horrible can happen on such a mass scale in somewhere as accepting as Orlando, just imagine what could happen in Georgia." She sobs into Aubrey's neck, only making her pull Stacie into a tighter hug. "I mean, we were meant to go to pride today. I don't even feel safe leaving my house."

"You wanna stay home today? We'll stay home. You wanna go out there and march in that parade and show you're proud of yourself? We'll do just that. Whatever you want to do, I'm here. I've got you, and I'm with you a hundred percent. I love you, Stace. So, if you wanna miss this year out then sure, I'll be a little sad but I'll understand. You come first, over everyone else."

"Can we please stay home?" she asks, mumbling the words into Aubrey's now slick neck. "We can watch the videos we took of the other parades, but I just — I just don't feel safe this year."

 **stacie #prayfororlando** _yagirlstacie_

 _disgusted to hear about what happened ij orlando yesterday. to think that we've come so far only to move back so many steps. #prayfororlando_

19 retweets. 398 likes.

/

 **2020**

"I mean, of course we want to take her with us, but it's just not safe," Aubrey says as she balances her phone between her shoulder and ear. Eve babbles happily while she rests on her mother's hip, reaching out to play with the necklace hanging around her neck. "She's only two, after all. I mean, I know that she takes crowds and noise pretty well, but something as big as that is gonna be far too much for her to handle."

"I totally understand," Michael says through the phone.

"So, you can take her?" Aubrey asks. "We'll be gone all day. Pride is one of the most exhausting things, so you'll have to take her overnight."

"Yeah, sure," her brother agrees. "It'll be great for me and Angie to see what it's like to have a baby."

"How are you guys going, by the way?"

"Yeah, we're going great," Michael says, and she can almost hear her brother's smile over the phone. "We're thinking of a July wedding. What do you think about that?"

"I think it's definitely a better idea than a December wedding," Aubrey says, smiling at the memory of her own wedding which had involved an impromptu snowstorm and therefore trapping everyone in the freezing cold church.

Michael laughs. "Yeah, well, no offense, sis, but anything would be better than that shitshow." There's some shuffling on the other end of the line, before Michael coughs and says, "Well, I gotta go, but I'll see you guys in a few hours."

"Evie, say goodbye to your uncle Michael," Aubrey says, putting the speaker in front of her daughter's mouth.

"Buh-bye, Uncle Mi-kol."

The call ends and she places her phone down on the coffee table.

"Mama?"

"Yes, baby?"

"Where's you an' Mommy goin' today?"

"We're going to pride," Aubrey explains with a smile. "Which is basically where we go and meet other people like us and have a really fun time."

"Why I not come?" Eve asks, confused expression on face.

"Well, you're too little right now. We might lose you. But as soon as you're old enough, we're going to take you with us. I promise."

"Well, why's you got that paint on your face?"

"It's a rainbow," Aubrey says. "Those are my colours. It's kind of a tradition — we do it every year."

"I have a rainbow?" she asks, pointing to her own face.

"We could give you one, if you want."

Eve nods excitedly. "Okay, I'll go get your mommy then. We do each other's paint every year."

 _ **stacie is at pride** stacie_

 _my wife just painted a rainbow on our daughter's face because she's too young to come with us to pride and i've never been so in love_

212 retweets. 948 likes.

/

 **2024**

"Will, I gotta tell you all 'bout what this is," Eve says in her very best authoritative tone, zipping up her jacket as she prepares herself to explain pride parades to her little brother.

"Okay," the four year old agrees, evidently confused about why they're dressed in their brightest clothes and why they've all got rainbows on their cheeks and why their mommy has sprayed something in their hair to make it the colours of the rainbow.

"Well, we all go and there's lots and lots of people there, so you gotta be really big and brave, and everyone is really really happy and they all celebrate bein' gay an' stuff, and it's just like all the mommies and mommies and daddies and daddies that we never even see all joined together," she says, smiling proudly at her explanation.

William is silent for a few seconds before he asks, confused, "What's gay?"

"Mama's gay," Eve says.

"But not Mommy?"

"Nope!" she exclaims. "Mommy's pan … pan … pan something."

"Pansexual," Stacie chimes in, coming through the doorway, quickly followed by her wife.

"What's that, Mommy?" William asks, eyes wide in confusion.

"Basically, I just love everyone."

"But why don't Mama love everyone?"

"Well, your mama only loves other girls."

"But why?"

"She just … does. It's just the way we were born."

"So … is me and Evie gon' be gay or pansexil?"

"Pansexual," Stacie corrects with a laugh. "And I don't know, bud. Maybe. But just 'cause me and your mama are, doesn't mean you're going to be. You're you, okay? You're Will and Evie. Not Stacie and Aubrey, or anyone else. Just Will and Evie."

"Okay," he says, seemingly happy with the answer. "Can we go yet?"

 _ **stacie is proud** stacie_

 _"what's gay?" my 4 year old son asks me as his mom and i prepare him and his sister for his first pride parade_

49 retweets. 167 likes.


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